Well, that
was fast.
I was a UFO witness for not even a measly week. That's right, I think I just
identified my unidentified flying object. To be honest, I was never all that
confident that what I saw was other-worldly, but still...for that brief week,
I was finally able to experience an event that, up until then, I had only
read about. It wasn't all fun and games, as the telling of my tale attracted
a fair share of criticism and mocking, but the 'what if?' factor was truly
exciting.
Helicopter or not, it was still a wild ride.
The original account of my encounter can be read in last week's K-Files, Khyron Sees a UFO.
This past Tuesday, minutes after posting this above column, I lay down to listen
to a little radio before falling asleep. By the time I started to doze off,
it must have been around 3 AM. I was in that half-awake, half-asleep state
where your stream of consciousness is going rapid fire through the events of
the day when, suddenly, I was jolted awake by a peculiar noise outside my
window.
It was the sound of a helicopter passing overhead.
You see, I made the comment on several occasions that if only I could see
what was for sure a helicopter flying at night, I could compare my
"UFO" to it. So upon hearing the craft approaching, I quickly
sprang from my bed and opened the shades. Just as I peered out into the
darkness, the helicopter passed overhead. After seeing it, I can now say with
a high degree of certainty that what I saw last week was indeed a helicopter.
All of the major aspects that I described were present--from the main white
to yellowish light to the series of blinking red lights. Up close, I could
see that what I originally thought to be 4 or 5 red lights was probably more
like 3; located on the tail, on top of the rotary blades, and on the
undercarriage. Also, just as I described, they blinked in rapid succession
and in a series from right to left. The only thing that didn't match up was a
blue and green tail light on this 2nd craft. I didn't see them in my first
encounter, but considering they were comparatively more dim, it's not a
stretch to assume that I just couldn't see them at the distance I was
observing from.
Except for why the heck so many helicopters are flying over my house in the
middle of the night, I'd say I've pretty much answered all of the questions I
still had about my UFO encounter. On one level, the closure is a welcome
relief from the lingering sense of doubt and depression I felt in the wake of
my sighting. However, Now I can't shake the feeling of disappointment that my
life has returned to normalcy...that unremarkable status quo of the mundane.
Not a total loss, I did manage to learn a few things about the UFO
eye-witnessing process.
First off, it is amazing how fast you can forget what you saw. Had I not
jotted down my description of the first helicopter so quickly, I'm confident
that I would have lost its image in my mind. Moreover, I had to return to my
original description several times to make sure I was still describing the
same thing. It seemed that every time I went over the encounter in my head, I
changed its appearance somehow. As time went on, it seemed, I started to
picture something more idealized than the reality of it. Sort of like
picturing the face of a loved one, I guess. You're not so much seeing a true
to form likeness of that person, more a representation of how they make you
feel.
Secondly, I've discovered that UFOs are taken lightheartedly by most. Save
for perhaps 2 people I told my story to, the majority laughed it off as an
oddity unworthy of further examination. Some even found it necessary to
ridicule my encounter with mocking "take me to your leader" jokes.
Finally, I was surprised to discover that mine was not the first UFO story
that some had heard. For instance, after reciting my encounter, one listener
went on to tell of a sighting his aunt had back in the 1970s.
Thus concludes my short lived UFO saga. I still hold out hope that I will see
something a bit more anomalous in my lifetime, but I have officially come to
terms that what I saw was very much terrestrial. Maybe next I can see a
possible ghost. Or a Bigfoot would be nice…
